Excellent analysis. The sociological distinction between shame cultures and guilt cultures is sometimes overdone, but this article pretty well hits the nail on the head.
I suspect that part of the problem is that Muslims don't believe in free will. That is a gift from the Jewish and Christian God to His followers, but Allah doesn't believe in giving it. So it's foreign to Muslims to talk about feeling guilty, repenting, and doing better. You need free will (enabled by grace in the normative Christian view) to be able to undergo such a transformation.
The message of Isaiah, John the Baptist, and the Apostle Peter in his first sermon in Acts was "Repent and be saved." The message of Muhammed was, "Go out and conquer, enslave, and kill everyone who refuses to prostrate himself to Allah."
C,
The notion of Arab pride, and shame, is something I've been trying to get a grip on for awhile now. No man-in-the-street interview in the Arab world is complete without someone mentioning either shame or pride.
I corresponded once with VD Hanson about this issue, and he recommended "The Political Language of Islam"; "The Closed Circle"; and a title by Fouad Ajami I'm drawing a blank on as I type.
If you know of any studies addressing the intellectual source(s) of Arab pride I'd like to hear them. English only, please.
Thanks in advance
"I suspect that part of the problem is that Muslims don't believe in free will."
I doubt most Muslims are that philosophical about this kind of thing.